


Some girls wander by mistake

by stellarwobble



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: sticksandsnark, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-02
Updated: 2010-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-08 15:34:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarwobble/pseuds/stellarwobble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt "hunted by human(s) or animal(s)". Also contains background Teyla/Kanaan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some girls wander by mistake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [x_varda_x](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=x_varda_x).



Teyla once went to the Gerien with her father. To her, it seemed simply an exciting break in the routine as she was still young enough to treasure every new society she came in contact with. Only afterwards did she come to understand that her father had been reluctant to go. He kept her close as they negotiated the trade, and she can still remember how he seemed to walk lighter with relief as they approached the ring of the ancestors on the way home. Harvests had been bad that year and they needed the grain the Gerien had to offer. He looked behind them as they left. Teyla never knew the source of his unease.

They are scrambling down a hill outside the Gerien village when the explosion goes off. Though she had anticipated it, Teyla still feels cold inside for a moment. It takes a lot of force to destroy a jumper.

Rodney leans heavily against her side. She tries to shift her arm around him to support him better. He's warm, too warm, and he inhales sharply as she touches his injured arm.

"That should keep them busy for a while, huh?" He swallows. She had been the one to suggest they use the jumper to stage a diversion. Rodney knows the technology of the Ancients better than no-one, and it stems only partly from his insatiable need to figure things out. He may treat crystals and circuitry harshly at times, but any frustration he may show is underlined with reverence. To willingly destroy a jumper, even as an aid to his own escape had not been an easy task for him.

"Rodney, we must keep going." It will be dark soon, and the terrain around the village is uneven, the forest dense and much of the ground covered in slippery moss.

They do not move quickly. Rodney, for once, does not complain but she can sense that he uses all his focus on keeping upright. He does not look where he puts his feet and stumbles frequently. To keep supporting him is very tiring and they are not as far from the village as she would like by nightfall.

She finds a place for them to rest, huddled close together between a jagged piece of rock and the side of a mountain. Darkness falls quickly and soon Rodney is only a warm shadow against her side. The birds have ceased singing and for a moment Teyla thinks she hears the hoarse cries of the Gerien from the north. _Stranger, stranger._ In this darkness an attacker could be close enough to touch and she would not see him. They have no weapons other than her knife.

"So, uh, you think Ronon and Sheppard. I mean, they should be back soon, huh?" Rodney is shivering enough to make his voice tremble a little.

"Try to rest, Rodney." Her chest is suddenly tight, like someone had fastened a steel band around it. She is glad for the darkness, now.

"Oh, right. Just, I'm pretty much done with being chased and shot at, you know." He shifts again and she reminds herself that it would be pointless to tell him to be still. His arm comes round her shoulders and she lets herself lean against him.

The night crawls by with Rodney sleeping in fits and starts. Teyla grips her knife hard and stares into the darkness, listening. There is the soft thread of animals and once she thinks she sees the glowing eyes of a big cat. The forest is alive in the dark around them. In her mind she keeps expecting the Gerien to attack all of a sudden and she gets little rest.

It is near morning when Rodney wakes from a dream, saying "Jeannie?" in a small voice. He tenses, and draws a sharp breath. He must have moved his injured arm.

"Sorry, uh, weird dream. Y'know, when we were kids, if we were home sick or something, mom let us lie on the couch all day. Used to make blanket forts."

A little over a week ago, Torren had been ill. Just a cold, Jennifer said, but he was miserable and would not sleep. She and Kanaan had taken turns to carry him around their quarters and when he finally slept he breathed fast and his tiny body had seemed to radiate heat.

Torren is at home now, with Kanaan. Teyla is here, on the Gerien homeworld, wishing she had thought to ask her father what made him so leery of them. There is a lot she never had the chance to ask him. She wonders what he felt when she was ill as a child, if he ever lay beside her, anxiously listening for every feverish breath.

Dawn is near, now though it's still too dark for them to move. She can tell by Rodney's breathing that he is still awake.

"If. If I can't. Y'know, can't make it. You should go on. Try to make it back."

Teyla turns towards Rodney, relieved that it is still dark enough that she cannot see his expression clearly, and that he cannot see hers. Ever since she was a young girl, she – like all Athosians – has been taught that protecting your people means you never leave anyone behind. That anyone, that Rodney, one of her team could even ask such a thing of her is distasteful. But beside that firm conviction runs an unspoken undercurrent that says that you also have a duty to let go if you are holding others back.

She touches her forehead against Rodney's. "I will not leave you."

"But." Rodney tries to draw back but she keeps her hand on his neck.

"I will not leave."

She can feel that Rodney tries to speak again, but he changes his mind and she settles again with her back to Rodney's chest.

"You should get Torren a cat. Or something cat-like. What's that thing Ronon keeps going on about?"

"A gnarush."

"Yeah, those." Rodney coughs and is short of breath when he speaks again. "You ever think he made them up? Just, I don't know. All those Satedan sports he keeps talking about, I swear he's pulling my leg."

In her mind's eye, Teyla can see Ronon clearly, talking quietly beside a camp fire. The gnarush had belonged to his sister, only partly domesticated and prone especially to acts of destruction. 'She made a mess of everything, drove my mother crazy'. And then she can still see Ronon, but there is blood everywhere and she can feel her eyes grow hot with tears.

She hears the birds again a little while before dawn breaks. The black of the night changes slowly into grey. Beside her is the branch of a small bush. Teyla watches as the morning light gradually makes the leaves clearly visible. It is time to go.

They have to stop frequently for Rodney to rest and when they move he leans heavily on Teyla and supporting him takes a heavy toll on her. She keeps hearing the Gerien calling as they search for them. Their voices draw nearer at a curious, leisurely pace. They know their terrain, it seems, and make no haste towards a prey they are sure of caching. Hearing their strange laughter sends shivers down her back.

It is in the early afternoon when Rodney slumps down and she cannot make him stand. He is poorly hidden, slumped against a fallen tree. Teyla tries to give him water but he keeps coughing.

When the voices are near enough that Rodney can hear them he reaches up to touch her cheek with his good hand. He is shaking as he traces her cheekbone with his fingers. Teyla feels empty and cold inside and she knows that this is fear. Fear that he will ask her to leave, fear that she will do as he asks.

When the first of the Gerien approaches he is carrying a hunting bow, arrow at the ready. Teyla stands ready in front of Rodney with her knife, but it will not help her now, with a bow there is no way her enemy will come close enough for her to attack. She will die here.

There is a sound of leaves rustling behind her and just as she is wondering if she will be shot in the back the Gerien taking aim at her falls without a sound.

Teyla turns to see Ronon, blaster raised as he stares intently at the trees.

John comes out behind him and tries to get Rodney to his feet. Rodney is barely conscious and has to struggle to keep his head up.

"Had to blow up the jumper."

"Yeah, we saw. Don't worry about it. Teyla, you coming?"

But she can only stare, frozen to the spot as her brain works over the images of the past days again and again.

"I saw them kill you."

John's eyes are dark and his shirtfront is blood-stained. "I saw them kill _you_." He's got Rodney's arm over his shoulder. "Gate is to the north, let's go."

Back in Atlantis it seems the day will never end. She manages to avoid telling Kanaan precisely what happened but he still hovers anxiously.

She wakes in the middle of the night from a frightening dream, its images gone as soon as she opens her eyes, but the fear remains.

Kanaan wakes as she leaves their bed. He reaches out to take her hand but does not say anything.

The infirmary is quiet at night. Rodney has a mask for oxygen and is surrounded by machines. Jennifer is checking one of them when Teyla approaches.

"Hey, Teyla." Jennifer's smile is tired and there is concern in her eyes. "Anything the matter?"

Teyla shakes her head. "I could not sleep." She is suddenly embarrassed that she needed to see Rodney but Jennifer only smiles and points to the chair beside Rodney's bed.

"I just chased the Colonel out of here." Teyla sits and takes Rodney's hand. Jennifer stands on the other side of the bed, her fingers carefully combing trough Rodney's hair. "He's better already, actually. Fever's down and he complained about my bedside manner before he fell asleep."

Teyla ends up sitting by Rodney's bed the rest of the night. He wakes up in the early morning, fear and confusion in his eyes before he can take in his surroundings. When he sees her he smiles tiredly.

"Made it back, huh?"

Teyla has to close her eyes against the memories. When she looks at him again there is worry in his eyes. She touches his cheek.

"You should rest."

"m fed up with," he yawns "resting." She is still holding his hand and he tightens his grip. "Thanks for. Over there." He struggles to stay awake for a few moments before his eyes close. His breathing evens out and his hand grows lax in Teyla's.

Teyla watches Rodney sleep. Her muscles ache from spending hours in the chair, and exhaustion is starting to catch up with her. She suspects that Kanaan will soon come to take her back to their quarters and this time he will be most insistent that she stay in bed.

Rodney sleeps and it is as if the daylight that has begun to filter through the windows into the infirmary is making its way into Teyla's mind as well. She has felt fear, like so many times before, but for now they are safe.

End


End file.
